B’s story
A few weeks ago something great happened at Care4Calais. Our small team has been joined by our first employee who is a refugee. B came to to the UK from Afghanistan just over a year ago under the ARAP scheme, and has joined us to run purchasing. “It’s fair to say I did a very different job in Afghanistan,” he laughs. “But I love the team here, and I love the UK. When I came here, the one thing I wanted more than anything was to be a part of society, to work and contribute and play my part as …
Call log from Channel tragedy released
In the seven years that I have worked with refugees in Calais I have heard many sad and shocking stories. Yesterday, however, I read something that chilled me to the marrow. It was the record of the distress calls made to French and British rescue services by refugees in a boat in difficulty on the English Channel on the night of 24 November last year. Thirty two of the 34 passengers would drown, and the French authorities investigating the tragedy have now disclosed their record of the emergency calls made that night – a record showing British and French …
Meet Katie, our Yorkshire force of nature!
“The word I’d most associate with supporting refugees is joy. Yes, joy! “Because you see joy on the faces of people when you make them feel safe and wanted, and you feel joy at being part of a team doing good things. That’s why our Care4Calais team celebrates when things go right, and if people are hostile to us and refugees, well, when they go low, we go high. “If the far right are doing hateful things in our area, we say RIGHT! Let’s have some picnics! Let’s throw a party! Let’s do things that are filled with love! “You …
Never forget: A vigil for the Channel drownings
On 24 November last year, 32 men, women and children died in the English Channel when their flimsy boat sank in the freezing cold sea, and British and French authorities ignored their desperate calls for help.. Those authorities face countless questions about what happened that fateful night, but a year on the victims’ families are still waiting for answers. They have been let down appallingly by the British and the French states, and at the very least they deserve explanations about what happened their loved ones. For the victims and their families, we demand justice, and we will never let …
Congratulations to Yasser and his family!
I got the BEST news today – our Syrian friend Yasser’s family have FINALLY made it to the UK, after over two years apart. He was one of the first people I met when I started volunteering with Care4Calais at the beginning of 2021. He was always translating for the other guys, organising, helping everyone, once he literally gave the shoes off his feet to a new guy arriving at the hotel. Several of our volunteers have been part of his UK journey so, to them, thank you and enjoy this moment. He deserves a lifetime of happiness, safety and …
Agrin’s Story
One night in 2018, the government of the Independent Kurdish Region (IKR) in Iraq firebombed my house. My family were inside at the time, but luckily they escaped. But something like this could happen again, even after we had fled to stay with a family member. I kept my head down for eight months, but then I was summoned to trial, and I knew that I would be imprisoned or worse. My wife begged me to run, to leave Iraq. I had never in my life imagined being in this position. But nowhere was safe. I had to do …
Meet Katey, our amazing lead volunteer in Croydon!
Katey has a wonderful, warm way with people, and somehow always seems to remember the names of the people she helps, even after meeting them just once. This means a lot; when she talks to refugees you can see their smiles breaking out to match hers. “As volunteers we just try to show refugees that there’s hope in the world, and they don’t have to suffer alone,” she says. “We see a ripple effect; if you someone feel better, they’ll make others around them feel happier too. And you feel amazing to see the effect.” Katey began volunteering in Calais …
Tariq’s story
Yesterday I was helping out with English classes at a distribution when I got talking to a young Afghan refugee. He was about 18, the same as me, and we were getting along well when I somehow managed to get a little cut on my finger. The boy, who I’ll call Tariq, suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a few moments later with a sticking plaster. It was such a moving thing to do – he had been through so much, but he could still notice and help with my little problem. I have only been in Calais for a week …
Home Office gives pregnant refugee Rwanda letter
Delina, a Eritrean refugee who fled to the UK, is 37 weeks pregnant. Despite this the UK Home Office is, shockingly, trying to force her onto a plane so they can deport her to Rwanda. The Home Office has previously said that it would not send pregnant women to Rwanda under its new scheme. However, we have seen paperwork that shows they knew Delina was pregnant, but still served her with a letter saying she would sent to Rwanda. This is an incredibly brutal example of the carelessness of the Rwanda plan, and the horrific human suffering that it causes. …
Ramtin’s story
Today we were distributing SIM cards to refugees in Dunkirk when I met Ramtin. He’d just arrived at the site with his wife after fleeing from Iran, and he said he was feeling like he was “in a very bad situation”. A few weeks ago he had been living a normal life as a financial manager in Iran. Then he had heard about a protest against the government, and wanted to go along, just to make his feelings known. But the police had grabbed him and put him into detention, and even though he’d been released, he knew they …